The idea that Americans are "breaking... hearts" by not handing out hard-earned tax dollars to illegal aliens is just absurd. Normal responsibility requires people to take care of their own before getting generous with foreigners, but liberal newspapers believe in an unside-down worldview. If parents and teachers didn't inform the non-American Denver students that they didn't qualify for the same benefits as citizen youngsters, that's unfortunate. And the mayor definitely put his foot in it.

DENVER — A lot of kids sat up and took notice the day the mayor showed up at Cole Middle School, offering to make a deal: If they'd study hard and stay in school, he'd find the money to pay for college. Four years later, the first of those students are ready to take him up on his offer — and Mayor John Hickenlooper is ready to deliver.

But the deal has soured for some students in the group: those who are illegal immigrants. Because they would be required by Colorado law to pay out-of-state tuition, it would cost much more to pay for their college educations.

Although the mayor says he will give the students the same amount of monetary support that legal residents will receive, it's far less than what they will need to cover tuition. At least 10 of the 38 who graduated are affected, according to a private group helping the students.

Some now say the mayor has backed away from a commitment that boosted their hopes for the last four years. "We acknowledge the fact the mayor is giving us partial help, but that is not what he promised," said Yadira Zubia, 19.

Say, that's a pretty high proportion of kiddies in one Colorado class who are illegal aliens.

I can recall no instance of newspapers taking a similar interest in the well-being of American children whose parent has been arrested and imprisoned. Of course such outcomes of criminality are traumatic on kids (like Yolanda Mendez, pictured here), but it's the bad behavior of the adult that's to blame, not the normal execution of laws.

But La Raza ("The Race" in English; "Das Volk" in German) uses emotional appeals about children to convince citizens to soften their resolve about immigration law enforcement. Should parents of minor children be exempt from normal legal penalties for crime? Apparently so, according to Raza types, as long as the perps are Mexican.

In another case, Yolanda Mendez, 12, called her father one day in March 2007 to tell him that her mother, an epileptic, was sick and that she needed help. But her father didn't arrive home.

"I thought something bad had happened to him," she said.

The family reported him missing and searched throughout the city. Three days later, Yolanda said, her father, Santiago Mendez, 39, called to tell them that he had been arrested by immigration officers during a traffic stop and that he was in a detention center.

Yolanda said she was relieved that he was alive but scared about him being deported. She and her 7-year-old brother began sleeping in their mother's bed. She didn't want to go to school. She wrote letters to her father daily.

Sorry, Yolanda. Life is tough, particularly when your parents are illegal aliens determined to break American laws in order to enrich themselves. I'm saving my tears for the American victims of illegal alien crime, who get little attention in the press.